April 24 every year after 2010 is commemorated as National Panchayati Raj Day as on this day the grassroots level power was decentralized by the 73rd Amendment Act 1992 and the institution is known as Panchayati Raj. In 1957, a Committee was formulated which focused on the evolution of Panchayati Raj in India. Balwantrai Mehta was appointed as the chairman of the Committee. As per the Committee's report, it recommended a decentralised three Panchayati Raj hierarchy. It includes -Gram Panchayat at the Village level, Panchayat Samiti at the Block level and Zila Parishad at the District level. The names of representatives of the Panchayats were decided to be Pradhan, Mukhiya or Sarpanch. In 1959, Rajasthan became the first state wherein the Panchayat Raj System was executed. Inauguration of the Panchayati Raj was done in the month of October 1959 in Nagpur by our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared the first National Panchayati Raj Day on 24 April 2010. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Jammu and Kashmir’s Palli village to mark the event. The PM addressed all the Gram Sabhas across the country and gave away awards which the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been awarding the best performing Panchayats/States/UTs across the country under the Incentivization of Panchayats Scheme in recognition of their good work for improving delivery of services and public goods. The awards are given under various categories namely, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar (DDUPSP), Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar (NDRGGSP), Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award (CFGPA), Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) Award and e-Panchayat Puraskar. This year, for National Panchayat Awards–2022 (Appraisal Year 2020-21), a total of 322 numbers of awards to Panchayats have been declared. The Prime Minister directly transferred Rs 44.70 crore as prize money ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh to the bank account of 322 awardee Panchayats across 31 States and UTs in the country digitally from Palli Gram Panchayat. Jammu and Kashmir was deprived of this institution by National Conference and PDP regimes and finally after abrogation of Art 370, Zila Parishads under the Panchayati Raj system were extended to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which was a great step aimed at introducing grass-root level democracy and administration. In other words, it means taking the governance to the doorstep of the people living in the remotest corner of the UT.